Sticks and Stone

Penalty Box Players

De: Grace McGinty

Narrado por: Shiloh James, Grayson Owens

My name is Nova Stone and I was a ghost in my own life until a knock at the door changed my whole world.

Applying for guardianship of my infant half-brother was a no brainer, even if I hadn't known he existed. But that was before I met his uncles; two pro ice hockey players, and a CEO. They wanted to take Huey home with them and they were willing to pay me millions of dollars for the privilege.

When that didn't work, they managed to convince me that it would be better for my brother–and for me–if I moved into their Ann Arbor mansion. At first, I said hell no. I'd listened to true crime podcasts. I'd read the newspaper articles. But a week of sleepless nights and emotional breakdowns later, I relented.

They were helpful, I'd give them that. But they were also hot, and that was a problem. River with his brooding intensity, he was as huge as you'd picture an NHL enforcer to be. His foster brother Devan, who was mysterious and standoffish, and their best friend Rigby, the literal embodiment of a golden retriever in the body of a 6'2 pro athlete.

But I had to do what was right for Huey, and anyway, how could I ever choose? And I had to choose...right?

Sticks and Stone is the first book in a series of interconnected standalone stories. It is a Why Choose novel and may contain topics that are difficult for some listeners.

©2022 Madeline Young (P)2024 Madeline Young

Did not expect Nova to be held at gun point.

It was a great story, loved it overall, though the first few chapters were hard to stay interested in. But once past that defdefinitely one of the best books I've listened too.

Reverse harem sports romance standalone audiobook!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💜🩷💙💚❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌍
Character development: ☹️😄😍😮🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Duet Narration

The heroine: Nova Stone - she has terrible anxiety, which got even worse on the night two cops showed up at her door to tell her that her parents died in a car accident. She had inherited everything from her parents including a chiropractic office for which the partner bought her out and the home she lived in. Weeks later she finds out that she has a half brother name Huey that she knew nothing about, and his mother died of a postpartum aneurism. She had been living like a ghost in her childhood home, wallowing in her grief and anxiety, so finding out that her father had an affair, and a baby was shocking.

The Heroes: River Cooper, Rigby Engman, Devan Mason - River was an NHL defenseman for the Ann Arbor Ice Caps. He had promised his foster sister Alana that he would take care of the baby if anything happened to her. He doesn’t want to let her down again, like he did when she got pregnant by a married man and ghosted. Rigby is River’s teammate and one of his best friends. Devan is another of Rivers best friends, his former foster brother and a billionaire businessman. He was smooth and emotionless, and used his money to get what he wanted. They were all products of their upbringing.

The story: Since Nova was the only blood relation of a six-week-old baby with a congenital heart defect, she feared that he wouldn’t be adopted if she turned down custody. Nova was now an orphan and since her brother was an orphan, she figured they were made for each other. She read every baby book, bought all kinds of baby furniture and prepared to get Huey. However, a week before she was supposed to be awarded the baby by the court, she found that the mother had been a foster child and some of her foster siblings had filed for custody. She also found that they were celebrities.

The guys are determined to do whatever they have to do in order to have access to baby Huey. They had loved Alana and had seen her as a sister. They offered Nova a bargain that she didn’t feel she could turn down. They would move her in with them and raise the baby together. Nova was alone and she knew that having the guys in his life would be what was best for Huey, since they obviously loved him and though she had enough money to raise him, she didn’t have the kind of money that they did.

The only thing I didn’t like about this story was that when the press gets wind of the unconventional relationship between the main characters, the heroine uses that as an excuse to bail, even though they were all very happy with each other. I hate it in books when people do weak things and use the reasoning that they are doing it for the other person or people.

This audiobook was told in multiple points of view via duet narration and was narrated by Shiloh James and Greyson Owens. Greyson has a nice voice which is very pleasant, and he is good at doing different voices for different characters. Shiloh James has a soft feminine voice which works well for this character, and I enjoyed the narration quite a bit.

Sweet love story

I found this book just meh. It wasn’t necessarily boring but just not gripping or adventurous. I loved the aspect of joint parenting and that all the characters just wanted to be a part of Huey’s life. I found each male character endearing and the FMC seemed kind of weak. (Or it could’ve just been the female narrator that made her seem that way). However she did everything she could for the sake of the baby which I liked.
Narration was good. The female narrator annoyed me a bit with her soft, bland tone.

Made me Smile and swoon

This sorry made my heart happy. I really liked the characters and the story. The narrator did a great job bringing character to life.
The only thing I wish about this book is that there were more group activities. However there were some good steamy moments.
I would recommend this book as a good read and audiobook.

Likeable Characters, Unsatisfying Ending

Narration was great. Both narrators did a good job. Spoilers ahead

The fmcs resistance to help got kind of annoying as we moved deeper into the book. I liked the beginning to mid of the book and I was excited for the setup of the relationships and how they came together and everything. A bit of drama happened and it seemed like the fmc was going to get through it, she was getting advice from friends and became somewhat introspective and then BAM she.. runs away? And the mmcs let her?…idk it was a huge let down. They had trust issues in the beginning and had worked through some relationship hurdles and communication and stuff. The fmc opened herself up to friends to get perspectives and then just ignores all of that. It’s one of those things where the story had a great build up and it could have gone one way where they faced this dramatic crazy stalker situation together and persevered. But instead all that build up just fizzled out and then she makes herself miserable and sleep deprived for the rest of the book just pretending she didn’t just ghost 3 men with a pretty strong connection with her charge. The mmcs are miserable, they all unravel.. Then like the last 20 mins they get back together and decide to become a fam and defeat the stalker or whatever. She faces an unhinged assailant by herself, and is saved last min thanks to her neighbor None of it happened in time to make any real emotional impact. Idk. Good start, frustrating ending, good narration, good poly representation where the men have a deep bond as well without sword crossing (which I totally love btw just wasn’t in this book lol) anyways I don’t think I’d read this again but if third act breakups don’t bother you as much as they do me, it’s entertaining and himbo MMC was a great character, loved him.